Svenska Retursystem Creates Traceability with Industry-Wide RFID System

Thanks to an industry-wide RFID system, reusable plastic pallet and packaging pool provider Svenska Retursystem provides traceability and increased efficiency within the supply chain for the Swedish grocery industry.

Pallet pool operator Svenska Retursystem (SRS) is working to create an industry-wide RFID system that provides traceability throughout the supply chain, the company has announced. Svenska Retursystem’s returnable pallets are equipped with RFID tags, and the company is now developing a system to offer traceability by tracking individual returnable transport items (RTIs). A pilot will be launched by the company this autumn and winter, and anticipates offering a RFID system to customers in the Swedish grocery industry in 2014

“Our ambition is to be the obvious partner when choosing a pooling system for returnable transport items” says Conny Swahn, Sales & Marketing Director at Svenska Retursystem. “By using RFID tags, we want to create added value for customers within the grocery industry. The advantages of our future system with RFID technology include less administration, better control, improved efficiency for our customers and reduced amount of waste in the supply chain.”

Svenska Retursystem adds that RFID offers provides new opportunities for an even better overview of the system, making it easy for the customers in the system to take control of their flows. No manual reporting is needed since everything is automated and the customer always has accurate information about how many returnable pallets – and which ones – are at each location.

“The first step involves building and testing a system for tracking RFID-tagged returnable pallets throughout the supply chain. We have also identified future opportunities for using RFID technique together with more returnable transport items and adding more information to the system, such as which goods the returnable transport item contains.”

Svenska Retursystem simplifies, streamlines and environmentally adapts flows of goods for the Swedish food industry by operating and developing packaging systems based on reuse instead of single use. The basic idea is that consumer products are delivered in returnable transport items (RTIs) that are constantly reused within a system instead of using single-use packaging, thus benefiting the environment. The system is growing rapidly, and Svenska Retursystem now delivers and collects more than 117 million RTIs each year. This corresponds to over 400,000 RTIs being used every day within the industry’s flows of goods.

For more information, visit www.retursystem.se.